Open Source Learning Management Systems in Higher Education

Nowadays, with the use of technology and the Internet, education is undergoing major revolution; lookingself-assured to new ways of education. One of the commonly used method of teaching used to promote knowledge, consists in the use of virtual environments, which are available online. Unlike orthodox models of software development, the open source model is based on the collaborative efforts of users. Interest in open source software has grown exponentially in recent years. A Google search for the phrase open source in early 2005 returned 28.8 million webpage hits, whereas today that number had jumped to 1,840,000,000 webpage hits. This paper discusses the origin of the term open source and the canon of the open source software development model. In addition, it analyses the virtues and shortcomingsof Moddle and Sakai applying the model in higher education taking two main features Communication tools and Assistant tools. The paper concludes with a discussion of the potential for applying the open source software development model to higher education and pros and cons of both LMS.